The Power of Beliefs - Part 2

Focus: Mental Success, Performance Success

Audio lesson:  4 mins. 20 secs.

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The Power of Beliefs – Part 2

Wc: 655

Read time: 2-3 mins.
Transcript - print now

Welcome to part two of the power of beliefs.  In this bite-size audio lesson, I’m going to be introducing three types of beliefs. If you haven’t listened to part 1, please do so.

The first belief is an empowering belief. And yes, just by its very word, it implies power. A belief that is empowering gives power, gives motivation, fuels the ability to take action. 

Like in our previous Belief audio tip number one, we talked about approaching a job posting. And as before, we talked about if, in fact, you believe you can do the job, that belief will actually fuel the motivation to take the necessary steps to apply for the job. That’s an empowering belief.

Number two, there’s something called sabotaging beliefs. Sabotaging beliefs hamper, hurt, obstruct, even destroy any energy or motivation or will to take action. A great example of that is speaking in public. 

Several years ago, USA did a study on the number one fear of adult Americans. Many of you may know that that number one fear ended up being speaking in public. 

I’ve talked to many people across the country, as a professional speaker, who have said, “Oh, I could never speak in public. Oh, my gosh, I would have an anxiety attack, I’d faint, I’d make a fool of myself.” 

Boy, listen to those series of thinking, the mindset. And, in fact, those very beliefs completely squelch any initiative to actually speak in public. Or even, to try and attempt at speaking in public. That’s a great example of a sabotaging belief.

And number three, limiting beliefs. A limiting belief is a belief that sets up uninformed boundaries, restrains, or confines, or boxes us in, kind of like the story of the elephant in a previous audio tip. A great example of that is a conversation I was having with a colleague who’s starting a new business. We looked at the business plan, actually, it was a very solid business plan, and we looked at, you know, one to three years in revenue projections. 

And I said, “Now, do you think this is all the money that can be made from this idea in the first one to three years?” Which, by the way, I was thinking was pretty low, and my colleague said, “Yeah, that’s about as much as I think we can really do, particularly in the first one or two years.” 

And then, when I looked at the landscape and I looked at the model and I looked at the industry that this particular business was going to start and I thought, “Wow! That’s like really low.” I believe that my colleague had a limiting belief and she actually said it, “Yes, I believe that’s about all we can make in the first one or two years.” 

So after walking through some potential ideas of marketing, all of a sudden, her eyes lit up and she said, “Oh! My gosh, we can make so much more. This has huge potential.” Now, all of a sudden, it went from a limiting belief to an empowering belief because she became more informed. 

It’s amazing how we limit ourselves by our beliefs. And as I said before, just because we believe it doesn’t make it true. I would encourage you to go back to the exercise from our bite-size tip one on beliefs. Go back and make sure that under each of those segments, and in other important areas of your life that really matter to you, that you have empowering beliefs in each of those areas. 

That would be a great exercise to do. If you have limiting beliefs or sabotaging beliefs, change those beliefs. Rewrite them on paper. Rewriting them on paper begins to rewrite them in your mind. And then, as an additional action, read through those beliefs on a regular basis so they become a habit of thought or a habit of mind.



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